By Emily R. Condon

April was supposed to mark Autism Acceptance Month.

But autistic students at the University of Maryland said there were few opportunities to spread the message. The only event known to the Autism Student Group in honor of the month was canceled, senior Emmet Ryan said in an email.

“I did not personally participate in any University events during AAM as the talk scheduled for the 28th was postponed and am not aware of any other events during the month,” said Ryan, an information science major and co-president of the Autism Student Group.

Keynote speaker Katie Gandy, the Maryland state coordinator for autism strategy, postponed her scheduled April 28 visit due to a COVID-19 diagnosis. The event was set to be rescheduled, but no new date had been announced by the final day of classes.

The University of Maryland Autism Research Consortium, a group of faculty from various departments that looks to understand Autism Spectrum Disorders, hosted its own events in April. The group also worked to raise funds throughout the month for the Community-wide Learning about Autism Speaker Series.

A presentation of two research posters on how to support autistic and neurodivergent adults in the workforce occured on April 20 at the Hotel. On April 30 — Maryland Day — UMARC co-sponsored a Sensory Scavenger Hunt with Social Interaction Group Network for All, another university group for neurodivergent terps, according to an email from Kathy Dow-Burger, co-director of the UMARC and founder and coordinator of SIGNA.

Ryan and co-president Nina Agrawal said they did not know of any Autism Acceptance Month-related events besides the canceled talk.

Agrawal, a graduating computer engineering major, expressed feeling a lack of acknowledgement.

“I don’t think autism is really talked about on campus very much,” Agrawal said in an email interview.

Ryan said that overall, the Autism Student Group receives all of the same benefits as other registered clubs. The ASG intends to be more informal than the President’s Commission on Disability Issues and other university-run groups so that students feel comfortable with the level of support.

Ryan said he did not try to participate in any Autism Acceptance Month events other than Gandy’s talk because he was unaware that they existed.

The senior also said the word acceptance should replace the word awareness in the theme.

A post on the UMD Global Campus Facebook uses the term ‘awareness,’ which Agrawal said is outdated.

“It shows they are not keeping up with autistic self advocates. I think Autism Awareness was more important when people didn’t really get what autism was, but now people know what it is. Unfortunately there’s a lot of stigma and that needs to change which is why we need acceptance,” Agrawal said.

Dow-Burger said she would improve the university’s celebration of Autism Acceptance Month by changing it to “Autism Empowerment and Full Inclusion year.”

“Autism Acceptance month is a good start, but just a start for bringing to light how multi-faceted autism is. Many of us would prefer this month (and all other 11 months of the year) as autism and neurodiversity empowerment and full inclusion months rather than just an acceptance,” Dow-Burger said.

Featured photo: The Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences, located in LeFrak Hall, is home to SIGNA and numerous members of UMARC, including the group’s two co-directors. Photo by Emily R. Condon.